Truman's Speech About The Oval Office
I'm glad you have come to this historical institution. You are very
welcome.
This is Harry S. Truman, speaking.
This room is an exact reproduction of the Presidential Office in the West
Wing of the White House, as it was in the early Nineteen Hundred and Fifties.
The furniture, the rug, and the drapes are duplicates of those used in the
White House when I was President of the United States.
The pictures you see on the wall and the things you see on the desk are
those I had in the White House.
The paintings over the mantel are of three great Latin American Liberators.
They are Bolivar, in the center; San Martin, on the left; and (H)idalgo, on
the right. These portraits were given to me by Venezuela, Argentina, and
Mexico.
The globe, in front of the mantel, replaces the one which was given to me
by General Eisenhower at his headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany, in Nineteen
Hundred and Forty-Five. When General Eisenhower succeeded me in the
Presidency, I returned the original globe to him.
As the duties and responsibilities of the President expanded, more working
space was needed in the White House.
The Executive Office wing on the west side was built in Nineteen Hundred
and Two, during the administration of President Theodore Roosevelt. It houses
the office of the President, his secretaries, and principal assistants.
This wing is connected by passageways to the main White House where the
President and his family live and hold state functions.
The almost hidden door on the right of the fireplace leads to the office of
the President's private secretary. The one on the left leads to a corridor and
to the Cabinet Room.
The desk is a copy of the one installed by President Theodore Roosevelt
when the office was built.
The office has been occupied by all the succeeding Presidents including
William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge,
Herbert Hoover, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, down to myself, Dwight D.
Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson.
In the office of the President is centered all the responsibility for the
administration of the Government of the United States.
Since the birth of the American Republic, the office of the President has
grown and developed into the most important office of government in the
history of the world.
I hope that the exhibits in this Library will give you, and especially the
young people among you, a better understanding of the history and nature of
the Presidency and of the Government of the United States.
Return to
Introduction Page.